Wood said a batch of drones that arrived in Colombia in July 2006 gave the Colombian military a “real-time, bird’s eye” view of its assaults on insurgents and drug trafficking on rivers.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are a low-tech, low-cost, and low-risk but potentially high-impact new addition to USG-GOC intelligence cooperation in support of counterterror and counterdrug efforts. Since their arrival in July, a test package of UAVs has provided valuable, real-time aerial video reconnaissance and surveillance to live COLMIL operations. The UAV program's principal priorities are to support U.S. hostage rescue efforts and to assist COLMIL pursuit of FARC leaders, but it promises to be equally useful for combat against terrorists and in riverine drug interdiction. As with all intelligence capabilities, what matters most is its aggressive application by the COLMIL in offensive action.

The cable said the drones were the ScanEagle, a small, low-cost unmanned aircraft that needs no runway because it is launched by a hydraulic catapult system.

Made by Boeing, the ScanEagle was first deployed in Iraq in 2005 for intelligence gathering. They have also been used in Afghanistan and by the U.S. Navy in counter-piracy operations.

According to U.S. newspaper The Washington Post, it was not clear from the cable whether the drones were flown by U.S. military forces in Colombia or given to the Colombian armed forces as part of a multibillion-dollar military aid program.